Express this quotient in scientific notation: ${\frac{1.960\times 10^{9}} {2.0\times 10^{4}}}$
Solution: Start by collecting like terms together. $= {\frac{1.960} {2.0}} \times{\frac{10^{9}} {10^{4}}}$ Then divide each term separately. When dividing exponents with the same base, subtract their powers. $= 0.98 \times 10^{9\,-\,4}$ $= 0.98 \times 10^{5}$ To write the answer correctly in scientific notation, the first number needs to be between $1$ and $10$ . In this case, we need to move the decimal one position to the right without changing the value of our answer. $ $ We can use the fact that $0.98$ is the same as $9.80 \div 10$ , or $9.80 \times 10^{-1}$ $ = {9.80 \times 10^{-1}} \times 10^{5} $ $= 9.80\times 10^{4}$